Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a common complication of very premature birth. The condition is a type of brain injury that causes problems with motor function. It's been a baffling disorder for doctors because of confusion over what causes the brain injury. Doctors still don't know what surefire steps to take to prevent the condition. However, a study published Thursday suggests that general improvements in the care of infants just before, during and after delivery are making a difference.

Zachary Bisiar had been airborne for only about 30 minutes when the 16-year-old's lips started turning blue. Zachary and members of his family were traveling from Seattle to Atlanta on a Delta flight on Dec. 7 to visit family when the boy, who suffered from cerebral palsy, suddenly stopped breathing. For family members who were expecting to reunite with Zachary over the holidays, the death came as a shock. "It was very out of the blue," said his uncle Steven Leahy, 40, of Sugar Hill, Ga. "It's really hard.

I am a graduate student researching cerebral palsy and am writing in response to the article by Erin Cline Davis [“Cord Blood: A Weapon Against Cerebral Palsy?,” April 7]. Though the improvements reported in your article are inspiring and reflect an area of research that deserves more attention, they must also be tempered by caution. Of importance here is that Dallas Hextell was diagnosed with cerebral palsy by the time he was 8 months old. At the young age of 8 months, it is possible to suspect cerebral palsy, but it is also hard to nail down a diagnosis.

Bill Porter Salesman with cerebral palsy was subject of TV Bill Porter, 81, a former door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy who was portrayed by William H. Macy in an Emmy-winning TV movie, died Dec. 4 at a hospital in Gresham, Ore. The cause was an infection, Shelly Brady, a friend and longtime assistant, told KATU-TV. Determined to make his way through life independently despite his physical challenges, Porter spent decades trudging through Portland neighborhoods selling J.R. Watkins skin care creams and other products.

Clients of the Cerebral Palsy Westside Activities Center, which in June was robbed of specially outfitted computers, will be able to get back to work today when new donated equipment is installed. Terri Lantz, director of the center, said Wednesday that companies including Packard Bell, NEC and Computer Talk have donated two computers and specialized voice recognition and word prediction software that help those with cerebral palsy communicate.

A wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy patient who has had two babies taken by welfare officials said Monday she will fight in court to get back her children "if it's the last thing I do before I die." Tiffany Callo, 20, gave birth to her second healthy son Friday, but lost custody of him the next day just as she had lost custody of her first son shortly after his birth in March.

More than $21 million was raised in national pledges from "Star-athon '88," United Cerebral Palsy's 10th anniversary telethon broadcast nationwide over the weekend, officials announced in Los Angeles on Sunday. Funds will help support ongoing research and community service for the 700,000 Americans affected by cerebral palsy, which is usually caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain of the fetus during birth, the United Cerebral Palsy Assn. said.

A botulism toxin treatment sometimes used to smooth wrinkles also can improve tiptoe-walking common in children with cerebral palsy, new research shows. Injections of the food-poisoning toxin cause muscle weakness and are becoming an increasingly popular but little publicized treatment for stiff muscles in cerebral palsy. The study, involving 155 children treated for at least a year at nine centers, is one of the largest and longest-running to examine the treatment's effectiveness.

Allergan Inc.'s Botox drug, widely used to smooth wrinkles, has lasting benefits for children with stiffened muscles because of cerebral palsy, a study found. About 86% of children given Botox shots significantly improved, said researchers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, who reviewed records of 250 children treated over the last decade at the hospital. Shares of Allergan, which didn't fund the study, rose 80 cents to $69.80 on the NYSE.

Children afflicted with cerebral palsy may be able to regain some control over their bodies through infusions of a drug into their spinal column, Pennsylvania researchers reported last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. A preliminary study involving 17 children with the most common form of cerebral palsy and six patients with other forms of so-called spasticity found that most appeared to benefit from an injection of the drug baclofen, said neurologist A.

A jury this week found a Stanislaus County mother guilty of second-degree murder after she left her 2-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy alone in a room for days without food or water as she hung out and smoked methamphetamine. "This is a child who starved to death," Deputy Dist. Atty. John R. Mayne told the jury. "This is a horror movie. " Brandy Lee Rose Devine was found guilty Thursday in the July 2012 death of her daughter, Stephanie Torres, according to the Modesto Bee . The jury deliberated for just an hour before returning with a verdict.

The boxing scene Saturday in Los Angeles showcased one great middleweight and three others trying to be. The great one, Andre Ward, worked from the TV booth at ringside, as one of the three trying to be him, popular Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., took on a hand-picked opponent, Brian Vera of Austin, Texas. That would come later. Earlier, a few miles away from the scheduled boxing action at the StubHub Center in Carson, two other middleweight bouts were announced. What Chavez Jr. achieved later might have a direct bearing on both fights.

"Wampler's Ascent" is certainly an inspiring story: Stephen J. Wampler, who turns 45 this week, has been afflicted with cerebral palsy since birth, but he doesn't let that stop him from climbing El Capitan, one of the biggest rock faces in the world. His goal is to reach the top, of course, but also to raise awareness and funding for Camp Wamp, a wilderness experience for physically disabled kids. As cinema, however, the film comes up short. The documentary by Stephen's wife, Elizabeth, charts his incredible undertaking through newscasts about the feat and home video shot during his six-day ascent.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at Frances Blend Elementary on the last day of school. Boxes of pastries were picked over by teachers and staff as they smiled and wished each other a good summer vacation. Aides and office personnel gave out hugs and accepted gifts from students. But the Larchmont school, as they know it, will be different come fall. The beloved special school for the blind will join with neighboring Van Ness Elementary to create what's called "an integrated learning community," Los Angeles Unified School District officials said.

A 53-year-old Glendale man pleaded not guilty this week to charges that he pulled a man out of his wheelchair and stole it so he could use it as a prop for panhandling, police said. Prosecutors charged Phillip Papineau with felony grand theft and felony petty theft with priors in connection with the theft of David Baysinger's wheelchair, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint. Papineau was arrested about 4 p.m. April 20 on suspicion of robbery at the Tropico Motel in the 400 block of West Chevy Chase Drive, where Baysinger, 57, of Glendale told officers Papineau was staying, according to Glendale police.

Day 1 My anxiety grows as I get to Larkspur, several hours into my drive to Spirit Rock. I stop for a snack, worried the food will be hippie-style brown rice casseroles. When I pull into the parking lot, I'm told I can carry my bags up the hill or put them in a pickup. I heft them, worried it's too indulgent to do otherwise. Later, walking to dinner, people talk tentatively; it's our last chance to speak to one another, and rather than motivating a full-on chat stream, that makes me pretty uninterested in small talk.

Dr. Margaret Holden Jones, a retired UCLA pediatrician and pioneer in the treatment of cerebral palsy, has died. She was 97. Jones, who died Sunday at her home in Pacific Palisades, had continued to see patients during occasional rounds at the Center for Cerebral Palsy at UCLA-Orthopaedic Hospital until about a year ago. She died in her sleep of congestive heart failure, said her longtime friend Carol Hurley.

Talk about carbohydrate load. Piles of fettuccine and tortellini were on hand Saturday night to help rev up runners who would compete in Sunday's Bastille Day eight-kilometer run in Newport Beach. The dinner at the Hotel Meridien--the first half of an annual benefit for Cerebral Palsy--found experienced runners twirling pasta alongside fidgety novices.

If Simi Valley High baseball players ever get lazy or start complaining about something innocuous, such as who has to rake the mound, they are usually snapped back to reality by simply watching the determination of senior outfielder Cody Jones. "I have an inspirational story," Jones said, "Why not help out and brighten their day?" To understand the commitment and love of baseball exhibited by Jones, you must go back to when he was 6 years old and trying out for a youth team. He couldn't use his left hand because his left side had been weakened when oxygen was briefly cut off from his brain during a troubled childbirth, leaving him with cerebral palsy.